Authors call on FTC to investigate Amazon’s alleged monopoly in bookselling

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by John F

Don't a lot of businesses do this? Costco has Kirkland, Stop & Shop has Nature something, ...

Yes. But when Amazon as publisher refuse to let other stores sell copies of their ebooks and the control 80% of the ebook market (is that the US or overall?) I could see the government giving them a critical eye.

I really don't have a strong opinion on this myself. I do think Amazon is a near monopoly. I'm not certain how I feel about that as a customer (I do think only judging monopolies as harmful if there is provable harm to consumers is faulty).

As Amazon makes it harder and harder to remove DRM to read books purchased there on non-Amazon devices, I do think that eventually it will be undeniable that Amazon's monopoly is bad for readers.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I do think that eventually it will be undeniable that Amazon's monopoly is bad for readers.

Wasn't Amazon part of some price-fixing scheme years ago to ensure e-books would always have a base price of $10? Amazon's monopoly has been bad for a long time, as monopolies are almost always bad.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

… and the control 80% of the ebook market (is that the US or overall?) I could see the government giving them a critical eye.
…
As Amazon makes it harder and harder to remove DRM to read books purchased there on non-Amazon devices, I do think that eventually it will be undeniable that Amazon's monopoly is bad for readers.

1) I think these are all USA only figures. Amazon non-online book sales are negligible outside USA.
In USA there are ebook sales of significance for Apple and Barnes & Noble, I think Amazon poor for non-english ebooks outside USA and more than once seen claims that Amazon English language ebook sales worldwide are 90%+.
Oddly Google's playstore does badly on ebook sales. I suspect a combination of visibility and readers not liking Google's invasive payment system (hard to remove them from paypal for instance).

2) If Amazon had a monopoly eventually there would be no other ereaders. See why Sony exited from the market. However if you have an Amazon eInk Kindle it's no harder now than 10 years ago to remove DRM?

[John F]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Imprint is an industry term for 'name of the publisher'.

https://amazonpublishing.amazon.com/our-imprints.html

for example:

- 47North ('Science Fiction and Fantasy')
- Thomas & Mercer ('Mystery, Thriller, and True Crime')
- Lake Union Publishing ('Book Club Fiction')

etc.

So the Amazon Imprints are all Amazon owned companies/businesses/employees?

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Wasn't Amazon part of some price-fixing scheme years ago to ensure e-books would always have a base price of $10? Amazon's monopoly has been bad for a long time, as monopolies are almost always bad.

That was Apple not Amazon. Amazon was the target Apple was targeting.
Apache

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by tomsem

These are not Amazon store brands.

You can purchase any Amazon imprint book from any bookseller in paperback format. The ebook editions seem to be exclusive to Kindle Store.

Some booksellers in some countries won't stock Indie paper books printed by Amazon POD replacing Createspace (technically not published by Amazon) or Amazon published, imprint or not.

House brands are not like imprints. A house brand is relabelled product made by another company, who may or may not sell also on their own label. An imprint is published by the publisher but for marketing or historic reasons looks like a different publisher, such as Ladybird books from Penguin-Random. Or an imprint can be a label used by a sole trader, no company, or indie self publisher. An Imprint is sort of like a pen name for a publisher.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

Wasn't Amazon part of some price-fixing scheme years ago to ensure e-books would always have a base price of $10? Amazon's monopoly has been bad for a long time, as monopolies are almost always bad.

That was not a price-fixing scheme. That was taking a loss on some NYT bestsellers in order to draw people to Amazon to buy eBooks.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

However if you have an Amazon eInk Kindle it's no harder now than 10 years ago to remove DRM?

It's harder to remove DRM from Amazon eBooks then it was 10-years ago. Amazon is making it harder to download eBooks published in 2023+ and Kindle Unlimited eBooks.

If you don't have a Kindle, you cannot download any purchased eBooks published in 2023+ (that can have the DRM removed) without owning a physical Kindle. Otherwise, you need to do the Android bit and not everyone knows about it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Apache

That was Apple not Amazon. Amazon was the target Apple was targeting.
Apache

AKA Agency pricing from Apple and the price fix six.

[nabsltd]

Originally Posted by Quoth

A house brand is relabelled product made by another company, who may or may not sell also on their own label.

In the US, many grocery stores have house brands that are manufactured specifically for them. Now, their mustard (for example) might be made by a "name brand" company that makes a lot of mustard, but it's not the same formula.
There is a local store where their house brand mayonnaise is cheaper than any other brand but does not have "water" listed until the 4th ingredient. In the US, there is no major label mayonnaise that has water lower than 3rd, and most have it at 2nd.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

It's harder to remove DRM from Amazon eBooks then it was 10-years ago. Amazon is making it harder to download eBooks published in 2023+ and Kindle Unlimited eBooks.

If you don't have a Kindle, you cannot download any purchased eBooks published in 2023+ (that can have the DRM removed) without owning a physical Kindle. Otherwise, you need to do the Android bit and not everyone knows about it.

Isn't there a NODRM branch/version/patch that allows stripping recent kfx (>2021).

[shalym]

Originally Posted by John F

Isn't there a NODRM branch/version/patch that allows stripping recent kfx (>2021).

I was just going to say this.

Shari

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by nabsltd

In the US, many grocery stores have house brands that are manufactured specifically for them.

Yes, often true and shrink-flation ingredients. Sometimes they want you to think it and it's also made specially for their competitors too, or a brand not sold locally but in a different country.

The USA invented the FDA so at least a reduction in dangerous adulterants, or dangerous enhancers (cocaine in Coca-Cola) to reduce the death rate.

It was a big problem with milk in 19th C. London.

Also annoying is fake local sounding brand-names in UK and Ireland. Also the SAME Northern Ireland cheese will be sold by a German supermarket in England as British, with a fake English sounding brand and in Ireland as Irish with a fake Irish sounding place name.

But Imprints are really just like "pen names" for publishers, not bought in books.

[John F]

So, does Amazon own the imprints?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by John F

So, does Amazon own the imprints?

Yes they do.